Hey All- I have reason to be in The City in a few weeks, Tuesday July 22nd to be exact, and thought it'd fun to meet up for some vinyl hunting, drinks or whatever. Stephen already confirmed he's free for at least a couple of drinks, so I think I'll leave it to him to choose the place.

I used to be in NYC all the time for work, but those days have become much fewer I'm afraid. So anyway, I intend to make the most of my NY afternoon and hopefully dig into some good music hunting and would be excited to hang with anyone here from the Forum who's in the metro area and shoot the bull over some drinks or food.

DUPpie, don't sweat it. I'll bring your little medicine kit and the hand truck to which we'll strap you with very soft straps. You'll be very comfortable. I got you a new custom fitting muzzle. It'll feel like your usual walk in the park.

Sorry man- I would, but the reason I need to be in town the next morning is, as they say, immovable. Gotta be Tues. for me however of an oddball night for goin' out. Hope you can come anyway- I'm looking forward to hearing some of your dry humor in person!

Hello all those attending or wishing to attend the NYC vinyl/pub crawl for Tuesday the 22nd of July...

The location of the pub crawling will be d.b.a. thanks to their massive and delicious selection of beers. Stephen will meet with the vinyl searchers and audio listeners around 6:30 at the bar located on 41 1st Ave between 2nd and 3rd St.

Just some notes on where to find vinyl in the area of 'hanging out':1. Other Music: the ultimate New York City independent record store. Here you'll find tons of new independently released CDs and LPs and they also have a fair-sized used LP collection. The attendants can sometimes be snooty, but hey, its an East Village record store. What do ya expect. You can expect to find music you wont find anywhere else.(located on 15 E. 4th St between Broadway and Lexington)

2. Bleecker Street Records: Yes, this place is nice, and they have lots of posters and DVDs and CDs and LPs on the top floor, but the real treasure is the bottom floor.... oh man! so many records, of all genres, cheap, expensive, mid-price range. My only complaint is the last time I went, the person working downstairs was smoking a cigarette inside, which really made the place and the record shopping smell (239 Bleeker St right off of 6th Ave)

3. Academy Records: A little pricey (not as pricey as Other Music) but these guys always have high quality records. Probably they reason they are a little more expensive is because they don't sound like they came out of the $1 bin. Nice jazz collection and also sell newly released LPs (415 E. 12th St between 1st and Ave A)

4. Rockit Scientist Records: Buried under some steps on the bustling St. Marks Place, Rockit Scientist has a large used CD collection and a highly selective LP collection with large Brazilian and Progressive Rock sections (33 St. Marks Place between 3rd and 2nd)

5. That dude on Astor Place: if its a sunny day head over to the Starbucks close to the Astor Cube (not the one directly across from it, but at the corner of 3rd ave). Hopefully, a man with a ponytail will be selling boxes and boxes of records. His quality gradings on the records are honest (ask him about how he grades them), and you can score some sweet deals if you buy more than one. (Across from the starbucks on 3rd ave and astor place)

6. A1 Records: Another East Village goodie. SM loves the Latin selection here, as he should. Its huge and you'll make some good finds. It can get a little hectic with the small isles and rows and rows of records. (E. 6th St between 1st and Ave A)

7. Tropicalia in Furs: Another SM recommendation. As its name suggests, it focuses on music from Brazil and Latin America. Score! (304 E. 5th St. between 1st and 2nd)

8. Mercer Street Books: My personal favorite record store in New York city only because nobody is ever there to buy records. They have a relatively small LP collection compared to all the other stores listed, but you can find some real gems because everyone thinks its just a bookstore. Plus, looking at books + LPs is a great combination. A large jazz selection and some rare rock finds. Somehow they manage to keep their "just-in" pile fresh. my personal heaven. (206 Mercer Street between Bleeker and Houston)

9. Second Hand Rose: If you like massive walls filled with hundreds of records, Second Hand Rose is the place. SHR wins for the most amount of records in one place, but loses, in my opinion, in terms of navigability. Most of the records are on bookshelves on the wall, hard to distinguish what is what, but they have an excellent $2 bin section and also some fine hard to find pieces. I got an original Brian Eno "Another Green World" pressing and its one my favorite records that I own. (48 E. 12th St between Broadway and University Pl)

10. Bleeker Bob's: My least favorite record store in New York. I dont even know why I listed it. Robert Baird agrees. The layout is cheesy. The organization is done by artist highlight (you can find David Bowie here or Dylan here) which puts emphasis on the big names and probably loses the little guys in the middle. Yet this is a famous record store, so if you're looking for novelty, go to Bleeker Bob's. (118 W. 3rd St. between Macdougal and 6th Ave.)

Very sweet list. As you know, Academy has three locations, with different specialties. I've been to the one you mentioned and the one in Williamsburg (one stop over on the L). I've noticed that both of them have decent rock and jazz selections.

Thanks for the list, Ariel! The only caveat: Academy for classical LPs is THE place to go, and VERY reasonable. Actually, quite a bargain. Most of those LPs I wrote about finding in the Analog section were Academy finds...

BTW- seeing as how I've never met any of you, you can spot me as the tall thin guy with a bunch of LP records (if all goes well!). I'm 40 but often get mistaken for being on the early side of 30-something (plenty of hair and no greys, heheh). Hopefully that gives us something to go on.

Quote:Yup, bummed that I couldn't be there, esp. to meet Doug. Anyone willing to recap the night for us losers who couldn't go?

Doug, Jeff Wong, Wes Phillips, myself, John DeVore and Jonathan Scull were at the meet. We met at DBA, a lovely bar, with a very lovely bartender girl, who is apparently a friend of John DeVore's. John leveraged that relationship to let the beer flow freely.

There were a few conversations conducted simultaneously, involving cartridges, system evaluation criteria, DUP's system, etc. Jonathan Scull is quite an entertaining character. His stories of spousal domination will be written in song and sung for generations to come.

John DeVore is quick witted and quite entertaining as well. Wes talked about his time living in Peru and eating llama.

Unfortunately, Jeff didn't drink enough to dance (that's a sight to be seen). Doug shared his perspective on what it's like to be a house dad surrounded by women with children in the park. Quite an eye opener.

Later, we went to eat at a Thai fusion place. The food was quite good. We chatted for quite some time and the party broke off at around 10:30pm.

I had a great time. It was a real pleasure meeting Doug, Wes and Jonathan and it was great seeing Jeff and John again.

Thanks again for Alex's summary of the fun we had the other night. I really enjoyed getting to meet some of the faces behind the names around here! As I expected it was that much more fun and lively in person than as screen text, and I feel like I made a few new friends that night. I'll definitely be coming down more as time permits- and also not the least of which for the amazing vinyl selection NYC has! Wow! I blew a lot more money on records than I intended, and still thought I was leaving a lot behind.

Next time we gotta get DUP, Stephen, Selfdivider and Ariel in TEH mix! Thanks again guys!

I went to Other Music and Bleeker st. Records. Both great- OM had all the latest and cutting edge stuff, some of which I took a chance on solely by cover design (risky indeed) which so far has worked out. Bleeker had more familiar fare and I picked up some great 180 gram reissues which so far sound mind blowing!

OM: The Fleet Foxes, Mouse on Mars, The new Breeders (with a crazy beautiful 10"x10" sized glossy, heavy stock booklet inside), The Explorers Club and couple others. All have free MP3 download versions- such a cool idea.

Bleeker: re-issues of The Pixies (Come on Pilgrim), Depeche Mode (Black Celebration and Violator), The Beatles Yellow Submarine, and a bunch of other good stuff! Most of the re-issues I already had and played to death back in the day and I am STUNNED how good these new ones are!

For hipster parents, I found a store in SoHo called Kid O which had all sorts of well designed and interesting toys/books, of which I picked a number of items for my kid-O.

All in all a great trip. Oh yeah, and I saw more leggy hot models than I have seen all year up North- what more can you ask?

Quote:Good times. Let us know when you're down here again. Totally bummed about not getting to hang out with you. Did you get to go next door to In Living Stereo after OM, btw, to ogle some unobtanium?

Indeed I did. Got to hear some outrageously expensive tube gear and John Devore's flagships speakers. They all sounded great, although so "different" in presentation (from what I am used to) it made me remember just why no-one will ever agree on the word "accurate." Those guys at In Living Stereo were extremely friendly and helpful BTW.